Portrait of countess Yekaterina Skavronskaya

This 1790 oil on canvas dates from Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun's stay in Naples, where she painted the countess Yekaterina Skavronskaya at least three times. The sitter is shown seated, leaning slightly on the arm of a sofa, with a languid and dreamy expression. The most notable detail is her gaze, directed at an open miniature she holds in her hand, which most likely shows a portrait of her husband, Count Pavel Martinovich Skavronsky, Russia's diplomatic representative to the Kingdom of Naples. The palette is restrained, dominated by rich shades of blue and green that lend the figure a calm tone. The composition proved popular, as at least two contemporary copies survive in Russian collections. The painter described the sitter with some irony, stressing her charm rather than her education. Years later, Vigée-Lebrun met her again in Saint Petersburg, by then a widow, and painted another portrait of her.

Painter

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun

Date

1790

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

135 × 95 cm

Museum

Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris

Genre

portrait

Depicts

Yekaterina von Engelhardt

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